# [spirit review] Skenderbeu Brandy



## markov

This one might be hard to get outside of Balkan countries. Although it's exported worldwide, it's rarely seen even in specialized shops. Albanian brandy (often called Albanian "cognac") used to be prized and famed spirit, but the production was always too small to make it more popular. The variation of quality from batch to batch didn't help too much either. How does it cope today?

In my spirit reviews I usually tell a bit about history of the spirit and the name it bears. While George Skanderbeg is certainly an important figure for Albanian history, it has no connection whatsoever with this brandy and that's why I see no reason to include anything on him in this review. So let's rather focus on the distillery. Skenderbeu brandy is produced by ADOL ltd., the only company in Albania, that has permit from government to produce Albanian "cognac". It traces its history to 1960 and it extended its capacity two times - in 1962 and 1974. This grape brandy is aged in oak casks for about 3 years. It won 3 prizes, one national and two in competitions in Bolgaria. Standard bottling is at 40%, 500ml. The bottle and appearance are nice, although I'm wondering how they get so dark color with only 3 years of aging. I'd suspect caramel, but it's not mentioned on the bottle. Maybe they are not required to do so by local laws?

So let's pour it into glass, warm it up for couple of minutes and see how it does.

On the nose: fermented grapes, raisins, cream, a lot of caramel, toffee, sharp and strong alcohol presence. Quite complex and interesting, sweet, but very sharp.
Tasting notes: strong and sharp alcohol, keeps building up but never develops the taste, a pale comparison to its aroma. Almost no aftertaste, a little caramel but nothing else. Not particularly complex nor interesting. While on the nose it promises to be an excellent brandy, it's actually a poor one when drank.

For the price, it's easy to find better brandy or even cognac. While it has its very distinct and trademark aroma, there is little if anything besides that, which would be interesting to a spirit lover.
I give this brandy no mark.


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